Comic Title: Swamp Thing #8
Publisher: DC (National Periodical Publications, Inc.)
Address: 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
Cover Date: Jan/Feb 1974
On Sale Date: October 4, 1973 Newsstand Date October 4, 1973
Source: Comic Reader, #100

Copyright Date October 4, 1973
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1974

Frequency: Bi-monthly
Cover Price: $0.20
Page Count: 32
Editor: Joe Orlando

Title: "The Lurker in Tunnel 13"
Pages: 20

Feature(s):
Swamp Thing (of Earth-1)

Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Bernie Wrightson

Reprinted In:
DC Special Series #20 (1980)
Roots of the Swamp Thing #4 (1986)
Swamp Thing:Dark Genesis TPB (1992)
Secret of the Swamp Thing TPB (2005)
Roots of the Swamp Thing HC (2009)
Roots of the Swamp Thing TPB (2012)
Swamp Thing:The Bronze Age Omnibus HC (2017)
Swamp Thing:The Bronze Age Vol. 1 TPB (2018)
Absolute Swamp Thing by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson HC (2023)

Feature Character(s)

• Swamp Thing (last appearance in Swamp Thing #7; next appearance in Swamp Thing #9)

Villain(s)

• M'Nagalah (an interdimensional monster; first appearance; next appearance in Challengers of the Unknown #81)
• A grizzly bear (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Ezekiel (an old man; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Jason Monroe (Ezekiel's son; last named revealed in Challengers of the Unknown #82; next appearance in Challengers of the Unknown #82)
• Lydia and Jody (Jason's wife and son; no further appearances)
• Mutteridge (mayor of Perdition; no further appearances)
• Abraham (Ezekiel's father; in flashback; no further appearances)
• Residents of Perdition (Hector named; next appearance in Challengers of the Unknown #81)

Synopsis:
After leaving Gotham City, Swamp Thing walks through the woods in a snowstorm. He hears a scream from a nearby cave. He finds an old man and a grizzly bear. Swamp Thing kills the bear. He is too late to save the life of the old man, who issues a warning about the town of Perdition with his dying breath.

Swamp Thing carries the old man's body into the nearby town and is blamed for his death. A mob of townspeople attack, but Jason, the son of the dead man gets them to stand down when he realizes that his father was killed by a bear. He then helps Swamp Thing recover from his own injuries.

Jason's son wanders off, leading to a search party being formed. Swamp Thing joins them. The trail leads to an abandoned mining tunnel. The townspeople seem afraid to enter, so Swamp Thing goes in alone. Inside, he meets a creature named M'Nagalah, who has corrupted the town and seeks to add Swamp Thing to his own mass in order to grow more powerful. Swamp Thing defeats the creature by collapsing the tunnel.

When he exits the tunnel Swamp Thing realizes that the townspeople lured him to the tunnel intentionally. He storms off without noticing that the taint of M'Nagalah has infected Jason.